Leon and Riya: How to Raise a Gnoll

Chapter 48

The next day Leon, Riya, and Rose were out in the training yard.

Rose: So, what exactly were we waiting for again?

Leon: Leiko said that he wanted to meet us out here today.

Riya: I wonder why?

Leon: If I had to guess, it likely has to do with what happened yesterday.

Riya raised an eyebrow and tilted her head to the side slightly.

Riya: And what happened yesterday?

Rose: He had Dad and I spar with him and Varna, to see how well we worked together.

Just then they saw Leiko followed by Varna walk out from the nearby hallway into the training yard.

Leiko: Good, everyone is here. Sorry, I'm a little late.

Leon shook his head.

Leon: It's fine, we haven't been here that long. So, what is it you wanted us all out here for?

Leiko: After yesterday I felt that Varna and I could try to help you to work as a group better, no offense of course to any of your abilities but as you saw fighting as a group is different than fighting alone.

Riya: And where would you have us start with that?

Leiko: One of the things that I saw was that Rose kept overextending past Leon whenever I would block or parry him, resulting in her getting thrown around by Varna.

Leiko was quiet for a moment.

Varna: It could be workable to have Rose or Riya be in front since Leon uses a spear, he has better reach and could attack from around them if they get stopped in some way.

Leiko: That's a good point.

Leiko turned his gaze to Rose.

Leiko: Rose, have you ever used a shield and sword before?

With a curious look on her muzzle, Rose shook her head no.

Leiko had an amused look on his face.

Leiko: Would you want to start?

***

Maria was in the room that was assigned to her and Valka when Thorn came in.

Thorn: Maria, Zenkoh asked for you in her office.

Maria: Oh? Any ideas why?

Thorn shook his head.

Thorn: No.

With that Maria and Thorn began to make their way to Zenkoh's office.

Thorn: I can tell you that Zenkoh is grateful you were willing to wait a few days for her to figure out what was going to be done.

Maria: It was no trouble, going back without the information would have meant that she would have to send someone else to give the orders so there wasn't any reason to do that anyway. I might as well come back with the information.

Thorn nodded.

Thorn: Looks like we're here.

Maria went into the room while Thorn stayed outside. Inside Maria could see Zenkoh poring over a map.

Maria: Thorn said that you knew what we were going to be doing, what would that be?

Zenkoh looked up from the map at Maria.

Zenkoh: Right. So, as you can see Dark Wood is off the west of both Gloomfang Citadel and Fort Stoneholde. What I was going to do was separate each force that marches from each place into two groups.

As she says this she points to Dark Wood on the map.

Zenkoh: That way we would be able to surround her, preventing her from escaping or having anything coming in for support.

Maria: Who is going to be in each of the two groups?

Zenkoh: I'll leave the decision for that in regards to Stoneholde up to Riya, as for here I am going to have Purth and me leading one warband while Thorn and Feraga lead another.

Maria: Right, what am I supposed to tell Riya in terms of when we are to march?

Zenkoh: I am going to begin marching five days from when you leave to give the information to Stoneholde, that gives Riya two days to figure out what is going to be done in terms of marching orders.

Maria: Right. It should still be relatively early so Valka and I should probably leave for Stoneholde within the hour.

Zenkoh closed the distance and pulled Maria into a hug.

Zenkoh: Please, be careful.

After the last word left her mouth she released the hug that Maria was in and went back to her desk.

***

Mu was up on the wall of Stoneholde when she saw Maria and Valka approaching the gate. Without needing to say anything Mu went over to the gatehouse and lifted the gate so that they could enter. Once she could see that they were inside Mu dropped the gate back into the closed position.

Mu made her way down from the gatehouse to meet them.

Mu: So, what did Zenkoh decide?

Maria: She will be marching two days from now, we have that long to figure out what we are doing.

Mu: Two days huh? Not a particularly long amount of time, but it should be enough to figure out who is being sent.

Maria nodded.

Maria: Right. Do you know where Riya is?

Mu: Last I checked she was in the training yard with Leon and Rose.

With that Maria was on her way to tell Riya what was going on.